Gates Rural Library Sustainability - Libraries on the Prairie: Growing Rural Libraries

• When it comes to technology, rural libraries face unique challenges.  To help address these challenges, the State Library of Iowa was awarded $129,450 from the Gates Foundation to "promote the sustainability of public access computing in rural libraries."  
• Through the grant, the State Library will host workshops that will provide tools, information and resources to help rural library directors sustain public access computing.
• They will also provide an opportunity for library directors to connect with one another, sharing best practices, tips, and success strategies.

If your library provides computers for public use, you will want to attend the Rural Library Sustainability workshop, "Libraries on the Prairie:  Growing Rural Libraries."  All expenses are paid for the library director, including meals, lodging and mileage.  (Reimbursement for lodging and mileage will be paid directly to the library.  Please view the Letter to Public Library Directors and the FAQ for more details on this reimbursement.)  All Iowa public library directors, regardless of community size are eligible and encouraged to attend.  Our grant target is to have 411 libraries (80% of the 514) rural public libraries represented at the workshops.  276 libraries attended workshops in July 2006! 

The last workshop will be held on August 13-14 at the Gateway Center in Ames.  All those who attended a workshop in last July or the upcoming workshop in Ames will be eligible to attend the Libraries on the Prairie Reunion at the Coralville Marriot Conference Center on October 10 and then stay for the Iowa Library Association conference, all expenses paid!

Topics include: 

• The Public Librarian and Information Literacy, Wireless Network @ Your Library, What Can U Plug Into a USB?, Using Tech Atlas.
• Assessing your library's public access computing related to library connections, technology connections, upgrade and maintenance, staff and patron training, funding, outreach, and advocacy. 
• Advocacy, including remarks from a community leader about what resonates when we tell the library’s story. 
  

Please see our brochure for more information and to register, visit the CE Catalog.

The Rural Library Sustainability Project was conceived, in part, as a result of a successful workshop that was hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in conjunction with Public Library Association (PLA) 2004, called “Sustaining Public Access in Rural Libraries.”  The workshops, attracting 135 libraries from across the country, were filled with lively discussions, inspirational stories and honest assessments of the tremendous challenges facing small libraries.  Inspired by what went on at PLA, the Gates Foundation, working with WebJunction, created this grant project to give each state a chance to replicate what went on at the workshops in 2004.